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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Rapacious Raptors : Prehistoric Pulp's Pernicious Predators

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, where tradition in America holds that one gorges on Turkey until a semi-catatonic state is induced, thus storing up the needed energy for the following day to join the herd and trample the less-fit to death under their hooves as they stampede into stores to save money on merchandise to increase their success and chances of survival. The irony is that a country with such a high percentage of people who do not believe in evolution manage to illustrate the concept so perfectly.

Another such indication of Darwinism at work, is that the turkey so focused on is a descendant of dinosaurs.
Yes, that fat, dim-witted, feast-on-feet, is what is left of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptor and Pterodactyl.
How the mighty have fallen. And tasty too. The Rex is dead, long live the King: pass me some mashed potatoes too while you're at it.

But things were not always this way. Oh no. And in the neverwas of Prehistory, Mankind was more likely to be dinner than get a turkey-ancestor to his own table!

In addition to making 'player-tribes' for the Prehistoric Pulp setting, I've always planned to make non-player dangers. This is one of the more deadly: Raptor Pack.

click for larger:

Raptors are smart, fast & strong: triple threat. The apex pack hunters, and a real threat to the sentient tribes.

Since we in our time can't know what they looked like, for coloring I chose to make them tiger-like.
Tigers evolved their coloring to help conceal them while hunting, so Raptors could have had a similar look.
Plus it was fun to paint :)

Gar here has little time to think on their coloring, if he wants to avoid becoming dinner.

So this Thanksgiving, take a moment to thank the turkey, for evolving into such a successful meal, leaving us free from becoming his meal.

Funny that these creatures are the most interesting to me when competingwith Homo Sapiens who came around so many millions of years after. (Unless you go to the Creation Museum and see the displays of dinosaurs on the ARK and the Garden of Eden.)

Nice little models of the Raptors. A gang makes as good a menace at one T REX.

Technically i don't think Pterosaurs are very close to birds, they split off much earlier iirc. That said, no prehistoric anything is ok without some pterosaurs.. i hope you have some planned.

I really like the colour scheme you used on the raptors. Rather Thylecine-y :)

Hmm maybe you should make a Thylecoleo Carnifex as one of the battlefield dangers, a truly horrific bite strength with jaws like shears on a creature with arboreally adapted extra-flexible wrists and retractable lethal claws and the same tail-strengthening that enables the kangaroo to rear on it's tail and kick.. and some people say there may be a remnant population near where i live as a possible explanation for the 'panther' sightings and cattle deaths...